Page 102 of Courting Gossip (Courting)
Her shoulders lowered, and she shook out her hands. She nodded and fixed her gaze on him. ‘Nina made me a business offer.’
His chin came up. ‘So you wouldn’t have to be an escort any more?’
‘You’ve been thinking about that, too?’
‘Yeah.’ Thinking, debating, strategising and considering all-out begging…‘What’s the offer?’
Her chest rose and fell. ‘She wants to sell Luxxor to me.’
Brody rocked back in his seat. ‘Her company? The whole thing? That’s…Why?’
Was Luxxor still under investigation? Had somebody higher up than Detective Morgan taken on the case?
‘Because she doesn’t want to put herself at odds with Josh any more, and she’s starting a new business – a matchmaking service for elite clients.’
Brody stopped. A matchmaking service. It wasn’t that big a step away from an escort service, but there was one huge difference. ‘She’s going clean,’ he said in astonishment.
Genieve nodded and unconsciously rubbed her stomach. ‘But she doesn’t want to leave her employees or her clients in the lurch. Luxxor is an established company. It’s profitable and powerful…’
‘And dangerous.’ He was beginning to pick up on her reservations.
‘It’s got good policies in place to protect itself, and, after this whole thing with Kevin Murphy, I’ve got some ideas on how to improve that.’ She was gesturing wildly with her hands, and she’d begun a kind of pacing, only in a three-foot area.
‘So you’re interested,’ he said.
‘Yes.’ She ran a hand through her hair. ‘But what the company does is illegal…but only a small part of it. Most of it is legit. Except for the services that make the most money…’
She was going to start a fire out of static electricity alone.
‘Jenny,’ he said calmly. She was babbling. ‘Tell me what’s really bothering you.’
She stopped, frozen in place. Her hands clenched at her sides and then opened again. ‘It’s a lot of responsibility.’
‘You’re not afraid of that. You dive into things head-first and follow them through to the end.’
‘Yes, but this is different. I’d have employees and business ledgers and computer databases.’ She lifted her hands palms up and pressed her lips together tightly.
Brody came right out of his seat. ‘Don’t you think that way. You can do this.’
‘There are a lot of details, Brody.’
‘But most of it is people work. I’m sure that’s why Nina chose you. She knows you can do this.’ He caught her by the waist. ‘Iknow you can do this.’
‘But the paperwork,’ she said miserably.
‘Delegate it. I need to do that more, so I don’t spend so much time at the office. We’ll work on it together.’
She bit her lip. She wanted to do it. She wanted the company, he could see it all over her face.
‘Don’t let fear get in your way, Jenny. That’s not you.’
No, she tackled things. Wrestled them into submission.
She took a shaky breath. ‘But I need to know the details if I’m going to run the business right. I’m fine delegating to others, but my learning curve is slower than most.’
‘So take the time. You’re the boss. Do it your way –or hire me as a consultant.’ The answer came to him in a flash, but as he thought it through, it made a hell of a lot of sense. ‘Put me under a confidentiality agreement, and I’ll work through all of that with you. Besides, that place could use my services more than any place I know.’
‘Aren’t you forgetting a little place called Congress?’
